babe in Christ though carnal those desires which worke towards God came from God the Spirit returnes to him that gave it Secondly I call those Members of Christ accidentally weak who are habitually strong in the faith having strong breathings of the Spirit of Christ and so not lyable unto that constant weaknesse wherewith babes or children in Christ are incompassed and yet may somtimes be accidentally weakned by reason either of sharp afflictions unto which Christ brings them or great services unto which he calls them or else by some great and desperate falls into sinne which through infirmity and as it were by accident they have taken There are two sorts of men that after the committing of sinne can believe pardon thereof no further then they can see themselves humbled or finde repentance in them for it First Such as have a weak faith in the Lord Jesus and these with Thomas may receive reprehension from our Saviour Because thou hast seen me thou hast believed blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed Secondly Meere titular Christians but in very deed hypocrites who build their faith upon the sandy foundation of their own repentance humiliation and such other like qualifications though they say and perhaps think otherwise and then no wonder if when their foundation be removed their faith faile and they fall But if it be inquired what the difference is between a weak Member of Christ and an hypocrite I answer The weak Member of Christ hath another secret frame of Grace in him which will not suffer him to rest upon this rotten foundation the Spirit of God bloweth upon him and gives him to see that this way of the flesh will faile him and at last pitcheth him absolutely upon Christ and leads the poore soule to lay hold upon the word of his promise which indures for ever All flesh is grasse and all the goodlinesse thereof is as the flower of the field the grasse withereth the flower fadeth because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it Surely the people is grasse the grasse withereth the flower fadeth but the word of God shall stand for ever When the Lord begets one by the immortall seed of his Word he then lets him know that all flesh is grasse and that whatsoever â—lesh and nature can desire to rest upon falleth away and teacheth him to rest onely upon the word of Promise which indures for ever tendred in the Gospel But the hypocrite being not blown upon by this Spirit not having the seed of grace conveyed unto him in the Gospel-promise stumbles at this way of free justification and seeks justification in another way forming up a Religion according to himselfe of pleasing and displeasing and by what he doth and doth not and thus going about through his naturall knowledge or light to establish his own righteousness wherein is but a more glorious damnation to be got at best he submits not to the righteousnesse of Jesus Christ And he waxing confident in this way teacheth it unto others thinks others foolish and blind in regard of himselfe yea he growes so confident as that heâ— dares pleade his cause with God Have we not prophesied in thy name c. He hath a faith though indeed but a dead one and yet it wil go farre in the resemblance carrying the image of something like unto the new man as the faint reflections of the Sun in a cloud look like the Sun but are not and may both deceive the soul of the person where it is and of others that goe but according to the appearance yet there being no spiritual life nor Christ formed in such a soul there can be neither any right spiritual enjoyment of Christ nor sollid communion with God in him though all the changes of the Spirit may seeme to be there to such a carnal formally deceiving heart He may repent as Ahab he may joy in the Gospel ordinances and have a kind of reforming with Herod there may be in him a kind of faith as in those that believed mentioned in the Parable but in time of temptation fell away there may be a frequenting of the word preached as appears by those that said unto our Saviour have we not eaten and drunk in thy presence and thou taught in our streets There may be a conviction of sin as in Faelix who trembled at Pauls preaching he may hold out with Christ in very great troubles nay suffer even death in the cause of Christ But all these are not yet in the power of Christ nor in the life of the Spirit so that the fruits and seeming graces of such are but like the berries upon the thorn in the way side not like the grapes upon the Vine he is not built upon that Rock of ages Christ Jesus and other foundation can no man lay and therefore it is no matter of admiration if like wandring stars and clouds that have no water such are ever rolling up and down and never established He dare not reckon with his conscience for the blood of sprinkling is not there and without blood there is no remission no boldness against sinne no looking Conscience in the face An hypocrite may have a name to live and to tast of the heavenly gift but is indeed dead and senseless yea absolutely void of spiritual life and may not unfitly be compared to that Statue of a man which they say Albertus Magnus was thirty years about that by reason of springs and devices within could walke up and down and speak articulately which stil was void of life so here c. some springs within resulting from self-love some scrnes of ostentation may produce in the hypocrite speech and motion in the wayes of God but being destitute of spiritual life must needs be void of spiritual senses and consequently of those soule satisfying ravishing and transforming tastes and relishes of the goodness of God which the Saints enjoy And thus although he may ascend many rounds in Jacobs ladder the greater at last will his fall into utter darkness be if the Lord give not repentance But inasmuch as the child of God and an hypocrite both stand for repentance it may be enquired what the difference is between the repentance of the one and of the other I shal only instance a few of the differences instead of many more that might be insisted upon 1. That which turneth an hypocrite from his sin causing him to grieve and mourne for it is principally a convicted conscience and restraining grace this made Judas confesse his sin and restore his pieces of silver who neverthelesse denyed the power of the Spirit of Christ But the child of God he hath this Law of repentance put into his inward parts and written in his heart by the finger of the Spirit of the Lord though many times by
reason of strong motions in the flesh he would not repent yet he cannot resist this law of his mind he must performe it when the Lord saith in his word repent and seeke my face hee this poor child of God replies Thy face Lord wil I seek the very same lesson that he is taught outvvardly by the vvord he is taught inwardly by the annointing spirit yea it is even his meat and drink to do the wil of God 2. Repentance in the hypocrite proceeds from a servile fear he being begotten under a covenant of works is through fear of death subject unto bondage all his life long and though he look to be saved by faith and repentance being instructed out of the Gospel yet he dares not expect grace and pardon any further then he sees himself work for he looks to be saved though not altogether yet as it were by the works of the Lavv thinking that mercy and pardon must needs follovv his vvorks and this is that which makes him take a great deal of pains in the Church yea he wil bear the burden and heat of the day and performe abundance of hypocriticall service unto the Lord yea til he troubles the Lord therewith and makes him weary thereof But the child of God is begotten under a Covenant of grace and hath not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but the spirit of Adoption to cry unto God Abba Father and being delivered serves God without fear in holinesse and righteousness all his dayes he knows very wel that sin cannot damn him being delivered out of the hands of his enemies by the blood of Christ And hence though God break him in the place of Dragons and cover him with the shadow of death yet wil he not forget God nor deal falsely in his Covenant His repentance in that sin cannot damn him is not arbitrary he is bound to it by the Covenant of grace his faith works by love the love of Christ constrains him many waters cannot quench this love neither can the floods drown it if a man would give all the substance of his house for love it would utterly be contemned the more sin the Lord hath forgiven him the more he loves God and repents mourns and weeps bitterly because of sin as it is an injurious offence against so merciful a Father instance Peter and Mary Magdalene who thought nothing too dear for a Christ from whom they had received a free and ful discharge from all their sins and provocations the hypocrite repents from a principle of slavish feare but the poore believer from a principle of a child-like love 3. An hypocrite never turnes to the Lord with his whole heart as the Lord requires for he is double minded True it is he may walk according to the dictate of his conscience as far as he is inlightned by the word of God leading a blamelesse life and may doe that which he does out of the integrity of his heart with Abimilech he perswades himselfe he is in the right when in truth he is farre wrong and because he received not the love of the truth that he might be saved the Lord gives him up to strong delusions to believe a lie that he might be damned who believes not the truth He may indeed seemingly turne unto the Lord in respect of many glorious actions but he hath not a new heart nor a renewing Spirit within him and if that action that as he thinks he doth most uprightly were put into an Evangelical frame he would most exceedingly haâ—e it because the carnal mind is at enmity against God for it is noâ— subject to the Law of God nor indeed can be his best duties proceed but from flesh and nature and from the old man which never turn'd to God and as for that which should give a spiritual being to those actions namely faith in Christ and the Spirit of grace these he hates from his heart But the child of God hath a new heart and a new Spirit he is a new creature all things are become new and although the flesh lusteth against the Spirit yet this new creature turneth wholly unto God and is all for God such a man seeks the Lord with his whole heart and all that is within him praises the Lords holy name 4. The hypocrite in his repentance and all his performances aimes at himselfe he doth them for corn wine and oyle when he fasts and mourns he doth it for himselfe and not unto the Lord the salvation of his soul is his utmost end But the child of God the believer doth all for Gods glory he desires the Salvation of his soul but he hath a further end hereby the Lord manifests his truth and mercy and gets himselfe a name Saith blessed David save me for thy mercies sake for thy Names sake and when he repents and confesses his sinne it is principally that he may give glory unto God and in all his actions terminates not in himself but doth them to the end that Christ may be magnified and esteemed all in all Sixteene precious and soul establishing considerations deduced from the Covenant of Grace The new Covenant of grace is held forth principally in these places of Scripture viz. 8. Heb. 10. Jer. 31. 31 33 34. 36. Ezek 25 26 27 29 31. Ezek. 16. 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 11 59 60 63 Jer. 32. 40. Jer. 33. 20 Heb. 6. 17 18. Heb. 12. 24. Heb. 13. 20. Mic. 7. 20. Psal 89. 28. 31 32 33 34. 1. Consideration His Covenant is a free Covenant being the offspring of the free love meer grace and rich mercy of God whereby he is pleased to make a blessed agreement with his Sonne Christ to save poore lost man yea the worst most vile despicable and helpless creatures in the world and of this sort of mankind doth God usually please to take into covenant with himself for he doth not as many would insinuate therfore take men into this covenant because they believe and are holy but that they might have faith and be holy in this covenant he promises holiness and through it conveys holinesse unto men as for example the Idolatrous Ephesians the profane Corinthians the vile Publicans the filthy Harlots yea the poore thiefe even at the last hour when he could neither serve nor glorifie God so much as one hour on earth and these when they were at the highest of their provocations and when no eye pityed them yea when their own eyes pittyed them not then was the time wherein the Lord out of the riches of his grace and soule astonishing love sware unto them and entred into covenant with them and this was likewise the time vvherein they became his as in that pregnant place of Scripture vvorthy to be vvritten in indelible characters of Gold upon the memory of
God and his motive to make and enter into this covenant was his everlasting love the righteousnesse upon which it is established is an everlasting Righteousnesse and all the mercies and blessings thereof are everlasting as everlasting pardon for I will be mercifull to their unrighteousnesse and their sinnes and Iniquities will I remember no more Everlasting kindnesse In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment but with everlasting kindnesse will I have mercy on thee saith the Lord thy Redeemer everlasting mercy for the Lord is good his mercy is everlasting and his truth endureth to all generations Everlasting joy and the ransomed of the Lord shall returne and come to Sion with Songs and everlasting joy upon their heads c. Everlasting consolation Now our Lord Jesus Christ himselfe and God even our Father who hath loved us and given us everlasting consolation c. and likewise everlasting life For God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life God hath ordained men unto eternal life before they believe and faith is a fruit of the spirit of Christ and of consequence we must be in Christ before we can bring forth fruit that whosoever believeth on him should not perish c. This and such like expressions are to be considered as declarations of the qualification of such as are saved not that faith gives us any interest in Christ but manifests unto us that he who hath loved us with an everlasting love hath by his Spirit come into our hearts and created faith there and shewed forth this love unto us When God is said to be in Covenant with a Soule A soule is then properly actually or expressy in Covenant with God when God hath come to it in the promise and then when it feels it self under the power of the promise it begins only to know it is in Covenant and yet to obey as if it were but to enter into that covenant which God hath made with it in Christ before it could do any thing so as they that believe doe rather feele themselves in that covenant which God hath made with them without any thing in themselves either faith or repentance c. The effect of this Covenant The Lord in and through this covenant brings a poore creature to see and seeing to admire the superabundant riches of his free grace and love and humbly and thankfully to embrace the same and the heart thus wrought upon vehemently desires that such carriage and kindness of its God might not slip out of mind but that the consideration of this soul-ravishing heart-melting and astonishing grace and loving kindnesse might through the Spirit of the Mediatour of this covenant carry him forth stedfastly to believe in dearly to love chearfully to obey and dutifully to honour and serve the God of this mercy in soule body and spirit so long as the Sun and Moon endure and for ever in a word the soul is carried forth out of selfe unto God and in God alone finds rest and satisfaction Divers inviting Characters and soul-winning encouragements of faith Faith is an assenting or cleaving to the truth and faithfulnesse of God in his promise not from any thing the soule sees or feels in it selfe but from something it apprehends in God in his word faith sometimes is attended with much strife and strugling for Satan wil say to the soule it is in vain to believe Christ saith come I will ease thee and faith sweetly perswades the heart to rest upon the ability and fidelity of God in his free promise Faith is an emptying grace yea it is its property to empty the soule and keep it empty of selfe confidence and thereby it makes way for receiving of the righteousnesse of Christ even as the poor widows empty vessels for the receiving of the oyl out of the cruse whereas the fulnesse of the vessel caused the stay Yea it implies an emptinesse of selfe that we may be filled with him out of whose fulnesse wee receive grace for grace Faith is a believing that Jesus Christ is the Christ which implies a seeing and knowing that all is in Christ for life and salvation and so to rest upon him for it he that thus believs in Christ is brought over by Christ unto Christ and so centered upon him that he wil never go from him My soule wait thou on God for my expectation is from him And in those souls who enjoy this precious faith old things are done away and they are new creatures there is a light set up in the soul and the soul sees and knowes all is by Christ and that there is no way or meanes of life but by him and thereupon closes with him and rests upon him Faith looks unto what God saith rests upon it and sets to its seale that God is true Faith doth not lay hold on Christ to fetch Justification from him till Christ hath first laid hold on us and imputed his righteousness unto us and by his Spirit in a free promise of grace declared the same unto us and then faith becomes active to receive and depend upon Christ and his everlasting righteousnesse Faith works by love and most highly prizeth Christ and his righteousnesse debases and vilifies self admires the immense and infinite riches of Gods free grace and love and engages the heart to holinesse yea to dedicate it selfe as a monument of eternal praise and thanksgiving for his inestimable goodnesse Yea that soul that is possessed of such precious faith can never in its owne eye see God high enough nor it selfe vile enough and fetches all its strength from Christ to doe all it doth There are many mistakes about faith some have thought comfort joy or ravishments of soule with God to be faith and so because they had not them have concluded they had no faith it is not mens believing but the object of faith that gives faith its denomination There are many precious souls that trust in Christ for life from an hope of mercy but this hope though the poore soul at present sees or knowes no certainty of enjoyment of what it hopes for hath a blessing intailed on it Turn ye to the strong hold ye prisoners of hope Eleven Motives to believe 1. By believing we come to know our interest in Christ and salvation by him 2. By believing we honour God he that receives his testimony hath set to his seale that God is true 3. If ye believe not surely ye shall not be established there is no true quietnesse and settlement of soule without believing thou standest by faith and fallest into sin by unbeliefe the word preached is precious and powerful yet it profited not being not mixed with faith in them that heard it 4. It s faith that
heart of unbeliefe in departing from the living God 3. From the lying vanities we have chosen they that hearken unto lying vanities forsake their owne mercies 4. From ignorance heedlesnesse and forgetfulnesse of the fulnesse and freenesse of the promise of God and his everlasting covenant of grace and from living by sense and not by faith 5. From unskilfulnesse of the word of righteousnesse 6. From the want of watchfulnesse against sin the not keeping of a clear conscience omission of duties and loose walking with God these will raise tumults in the soul 7. From building our hope and comfort upon that which is mutable and uncertaine upon our own personal Sanctification and not upon Christ and our free justification by him who is made unto us of God Wisdom Righteousnesse Sanctification and Redemption 8. From ouâ— owne false reasonings as to conclude that we have no work â—o grace wrought upon us because we as present cannot see or feele any grace in our selves thus many weake believers that are through Christ right precious in the sight of God are subject to delude themselves in chusing trouble and preâ—erring it before comâ—ort 9. From the bodies distemper with melancolly and troubling your selves with the event of things and from pride which hinders a quiet submission unto God in that condition inward or outward which he hath led us unto and from want of patience to wait upon him for deliverance out of trouble in the use of means 10. From want of consideration of the ground of the trouble and enquiry whether it ought to be a cause of discouragement or not 11. From too much eying of sinne or an over-sensiblenesse of infirmities and not eying of Christ with them the conscience enlighted siding with the law against it self 12. From the poor creature striving to get out of its dungeon by its ownwrestling whereby in steed of gaining inlargment it heightens its own distempers 13. From unbelief which takes the law and applies the same with the threats thereof unto the soule therby occasioning fears and discouragements 14. From ignorance of the love of Christ and when the blessed spirit of truth doth once come into the soule and discover the love of Christ unto it its doubts are immediately resolved and it is sweetely revived 15 From slighting the means that God hath given for our recovery we are indeed with thankfulnesse to use the means and yet to know that means cannot cure a soul it must be the operation of the Spirit of Christ in the soul which is as God pleases 16. From Gods not appearing to and the Spirits not operating in the soule the operation whereof discovers unto the soule the overflowing fulnesse of the loves of Christ and brings the soule to believe in the Lord Jesus and trust in his mercy Our carnal reason and corrupt hearts and Satan with his suggestions are so neere us and before our eyes that we cannot see God and we hearken so much unto what these dictate that we mind not the blessed voice of the Spirit of Christ which would revive and fill our soules with joy and peace in believing and make us so wise and strong in his time that we should not any more cast away our confidence in God And as Gods love which is free ful and perfect is discovered to the soule so yea in the same measure anr doubts and feares cast out Perfect love casts out fear and the poore creature is made perfect in love Nine Reasons against fears and discouragements in a believer raised from Isaiah 41. 10. Fear thou not for I am with thee be not dismayed for I am thy God I wil strengthen thee yea I wil help thee yea I wil uphold thee with the right hand of my Righteousnesse The first reason is Because it is against Gods command for a believer to feare or be discouraged fear thou not 2. Because thou hast the presence of God to helpe thee I am with thee 3. Because a believer hath an interest in God which is a happinesse beyond all miseries I am thy God 4. Because nothing can befall him but what God appoints who loveth him 5. Because whatsoever befals him shall do him good 6. Because the bitternesse shal be but short 7. Because fears and discouragements never do any good but much hurt they deprive us of many an opportunity of doing Christ service 8. Because fears are doubts are unsuitable for a Saint the fearful and unbelieving shall have their part in the lake c. with Sâ—rcerers Idolaters and Lyars 9. Because fears are unreasonable for a child of God the Lord having given unto his many sweet and precious promises That they shall not want any good thing he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee they are therefore safe and neede not to fear but in God alwaies rejoice and sing praises to him One and twenty several means to be used by poore weake believers for their settlement in the assurance of the love of God when they are tossed with tempests and incompassed with discouragements viz. 1. Means Commune with thine owne heart and make diligent search to find out what it is that troubles thee Reason within thy selfe Why art thou cast downe O my soule and disquieted within me c. 2. Means Renounce all lying vanities and hearken unto none of them hearken not to the voice of thine own heart it is a lying vanity and wil deceive thee Hearken not unto sense Thomas said he would not believe unlesse he might see and thrust his hand into his side but such sensual practises are to be abhorred by us for it is no other but to consult with flesh and blood which cannot discern spiritual things and is condemned some wil see an holy frame of Spirit in themselvs and feele sinne subdued before they wil believe this is sensual for faith lookes not to such things as these but to God in his word therefore we live not by sight but by faith blessed are they which have not seen yet have believed Hearken not unto carnal reason for in so doing thou canst neither believe submit to God not be setled Reason wil say a Virgin cannot bring forth a child and that a woman ninetie years of age is past conceiving a child Reason contradicts God himselfe and saith these things cannot be can reason believe that the wals of Jericho fel down by faith and that the Saints stopped the mouths of Lyons and quenched the violence of fire Yet faith did it Is it likely or possible to reason for a man to walke upon the sea or Peter did Did not Christs command seeme vain to Peters reason that he should then cast hâ—s net into â—he sea seeing he had cast it in so often and fished all night and caught nothing Can reason
turned that he fed upon wind and followed after the East winde and provoked the Lord unto anger most bitterly and that yet Gods bowels did still worke towards Ephraim so that he could not destroy him The Lord is exceedingly gracious unto such wretched creatures of his though they compasse him about with lies Let such poore believers consider that a sinner can never be too foule for his Saviour too much wounded and too sick for this Phisician to heale and cure nor too filthy for a fountaine opened to wash and that the whole neede not a phisician but those that are sick and that Christ came unto the world to justifie the ungodly and to save the chief of sinners he came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance and let such a soule that cannot as a Saint stick close unto the Lord Jesus as a sinner and his hopes in Christ through the enjoyment of his spirit within him wil lead him forth in the strength of Christ to purifie himselfe as Christ is pure Had the Lord Jesus by his Spirit wrought an effectual work of grace upon my heart I should have growne in grace but I doe not so my life is not holy nor am I like unto the Lords children 1. Consider whether thou art a child a young man or a father in Christ for as there is a great difference betweene a child and a man in Christ so betweene a babe in Christ 1 Cor. 3. 1. and a man in Christ 2. Consider whether thou art a babe in the wombe or borne that is a babe that is unskilful in the word of righteousnesse as a child being begotten and alive is in the womb before it is borne so a soule is spiritually alive and begotten from above before it be born Christ must be formed in us before we can be new born babes before we can desire the sincere milk of the word that we might grow thereby When thou art delivered out of bondage darknesse and fears concerning thy eternal condition thou art born and brought forth for as the wombe is a place of bondage so is a doubting condition and therefore thou canst not looke for those attainments in this condition as others find in another and also in case thou art new borne there cannot be that expected from thee which is from a man in Christ there is a great difference you know to be put betweene a child and a man 3. Learne to distinguish betweene the fruits of the Spirit and the exercise of them it is not the having of the fruits of the Spirit but the exercise of them that attains an holy conversation and know that it is one thing to be the Lords and another thing for God to convey his power into the soul wherby to make it conformable to his wil and to live by faith in the Son of God the first is where the later is not 4. Know that the time of doubting is a barren time men cannot fight and work at such a time And yet as trees in the winter season grow in the roote though not in the branches so maist thou grow in humility love c. though thou maist unto thy self seem to decay in those and other graces of the Spirit But when a soule is delivered from its enemies that is to say from Satans errours and its owne doubtings then it begins to serve being delivered we serve there must be deliverance before working therefore a time of doubting and of bondage is not a season of growing in holy services 5. Believers are of several growthes and states 1. Babes or children in Christ 2. Young men 3. Fathers Can babes worke Yet if babes die in that state they shall not misse of glory it is one thing to be justified and another thing to be sanctified as it is one thing to live and another to be borne and to work distinct from both There is a great difference of degrees of the Lords own people some are spiritual but others are termed carnal as appears by Pauls epistle to the Church of Christ in Corinth And I brethren could not speak unto you as unto spirituall but as unto carnal even unto babes in Christ thou mayest be begotten and yet not borne not a new born babe 6. If thou beest ignorant or in temptation then thy heart is clouded and distâ—mpered with feares and thy selfe not a competent judge of thy owne growth is a new borne babe able to judge of its own growth Consider also it may be thou dost not use the meanes or not rightly in Gods way And when grace is as seed newly cast into the earth and a weak believer while a babe for want of exercise and experience scarce knowes what he hath then as the land newly sown little differs in shew from other ground which was never sowne so a poore babe in Christ seems little different from the men of the world who lie in their sins and as childrens complaints are not alwaies to be taken for rules so the complaints of such babes that they grow not in grace do not so much evince their want as the sensiblenesse of their want of the growth of grace and of conformity to the wil of the Lord Jesus which is a certaine fruit of the in being of the spirit of Christ in the poore soule it is the spirit that convinceth of sinne and spiritual desires cannot possibly proceede from our selves but from faith In a word Let such a poore doubting believer hearken unto what God saith unto him From me is thy fruit found The righteous shal flourish like the Palme tree he shall grow like those Cedars in Lebanon Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God they shall still bring forth fruits in old age they shal be fat and flourishing And unto this end the Lord hath also promised I wil be as the dew unto Israel he shal grow as the Lily and cast forth his fruits as Lebanon his branches shall spread and his beauty shall be as the Olive tree and his smel as Lebanon the Lord hath also further promised that he wil turne the barren wildernesse into a fruitful field he wil open a fountain of pure living water and poure it forth upon the barren wildernesse and the dry ground The barren dry and unfruitful ground of unbelievers is by by the unction of the Spirit made the garden of the Lord and being trees of the Lords owne planting shall be watered every moment yea refreshed and comforted with the streame of that river that makes glad the City of God In the wildernesse shal waters break out and streames in the desert and the parched ground shall become a pool and the thirsty land springs of water I say believers however it may seeme do alwaies grow in faith love or humility My heart is
must be done in the Scriptures owne caution and way the surest knowledg that any one hath that he hath received the promise is the closing of his heart with Christ the real receiving and believing and relying and going out of the heart upon Christ The Just shal live by faith We walke by faith and not by sight This was the assurance of the father of the faithful who staggered not at the promise but gave glory to God There is yet something in man besides faith to be satisfied reason wil have more light to see by and therefore the workings of the Spirit in new obedience love repentance and self-denyal these may be compared to the tokens and change of raiment whereby Jacob was perswaded that Joseph was alive The word saith that we are complete in Christ and righteous in Christ hereupon saith the soule being a reasonable and discoursive spirit when I repent love or obey I believe I am in Christ and therefore my love repentance and obedience are such as I may believe though not in themselves yet in him to be good and spiritual 2. The Scriptures laie down these following things that is to say Christs sanctification or his true holinesse to be ours and faith about our owne sanctification 1. Christ is revealed to be our sanctification Christ is made unto us Righteousnesse Sanctification c. I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me Ye are Christs But ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus He hath quickned us together with Christ We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works Jesus Christ being the corner stone That Christ may dwel in your hearts by faith The new man which after God is created in righteousnesse and true holinesse We are members of his body of his flesh and of his bone And be found in him not having mine owne righteousnesse I can doe all things through Christ that strenthens me That we present every man perfect in Christ Jesus But Christ is all and in all Your life is hid with Christ in God All these Scriptures set forth and declare Christ the sanctification and the fulnesse of his the all in all Christ hath obeyed perfectly he hath mortified sinne perfectly and all are ours and we are Chrsts and Christ is Gods 2. The other thing is faith about our own sanctification we must believe more truth of our own graces then we can see or feele the Lord hath in his infinite wisdome so ordered that here our life should bee hid with Christ in God that we should walk by faith and not by sight so as we are to believe our repentance true in him who hath repented for us our mortifying of sin true in him through whom we are more then conquerours our new obedience true in him who hath obeyed for us and is the end of the law to every one that believeth Our change of the whole man true in him who is righteousnesse and true holinesse and thus without faith it is impossible to please God This is the Scripture assurance for a child of God or a believer to see every thing in himselfe as nothing and himselfe every thing in Christ faith is the ground of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seene It is our leaving out Christ in our Sanctification that is the foundation of all our doubts fears and distractions and he that looks on his repentance love humility obedience and not in the tincture of the blood of Christ must needs believe weakly and uncomfortably I cannot see God and if I were one of his Children he would not hide himselfe from mee as he doth surely he hath forsaken me Is Christ the Sun of Righteousnesse set in thy soul Remember the Psalmist though sadnesse come at night joy may returne the next morning And in the meane time there shall be moon and starre light and these though they cannot make day are some comfort to travellers In Christs withdrawings you have faith the evidence of things not seene and all the promises as stars about her a glorious spangled canopy over you so that you shall live by faith and adhere to Christ in such a condition the seede of Christ remains in you the suns heate is felt when his light is not seen Saints may have grace when they want comfort from Christ the Spouse thought shee had lost Christ yet stil she had a principle of love to him and a resolution to seeke him thy love unto Christ shal continue he wil be as good as his word The Lord shall arise and his glory shall be seene upon thee 1. Sometimes God hides himselfe from his and seemes to leave the poore soule for its sinnes and sometimes onely to exercise his own graces in the soule But alwayes in much love unto it Verily thou art a God that hidest thy selfe I opened to my Beloved and he had withdrawn himselfe Behold I goe forward and hee is not there and backward but I cannot perceive him on the left hand where he worketh but I cannot behold him on the right hand but I cannot see him yet he doth but hide himselfe behinde the Curtaine he cannot forsake thee for thy maker is thy husband the Lord of Hosts is his name and thy Redeemer the Holy one of Israel c. The Lord in another place to condescend unto the weaknesse of our capacities holds forth his love unto us by the similie of a Fathers love I am a father to Israel and Ephraim is my first borne 2. When God hides his face waite upon him and looke for him for he will returne againe But Sion saith the Lord hath forsakâ—n me and my God hath forgotten mee Can a woman forget her sucking childe c. yea she may yet will I not forget thee saith the Lord. Behold I have graven thee upon the palmes of my hands thy walls are continually before me For a small moment have I forsaken thee but with great mercy will I gather thee And the Spirit of the Lord bears witnesse that Israel hath not beene forsaken nor Judah of his God of the Lord of Hosts though their Land was filled with sinne against the holy one of Israel And the Lord saith in another place Therefore behold I will allure her and bring her into the wildernesse and speake comfortably unto her I have seene his wayes and will heale him I will lead him also and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners Although the Lord absent himselfe from his yet his love to and care for them is the same as when he manifests most of himself unto them when the Sun of Righteousnesse sets with us he
though in every new change and form mysterious enough to cozen all the unbelieving world though never so wise and learned The man of sinne seeks with all subtilty to set up that in forme and flesh and so preserve his kingdome which God is doing in Spirit and power It is the form of Religion that is the shelter and thicket wherein this deceiver and his false Prophets lurke concealed but yet shall never prevaile to deceive the chosen faithful and ransomed of the Lord these being redeemed from the earth shall still be found with the Lamb upon Mount Sion for that the Lord shines forth light upon them whereby through their Sonship and unction with him they doe and shall discover and overcome it It is from this unction that you know truth from errour though it be never so much reproached and errour from truth though never so much extolled and magnified by carnal and temporizing Christians Wherefore you faithful ones have great cause to keepe upon your watch inasmuch as the chief design of Antichrist is to seduce the Elect for that there are none else in the whole world that either dare or know how to oppose him but you and he well knows that if he can but prevaile with you all the world besides wil follow him headlong as the Gaderens swine ran into the Sea and were choaked You know that the National Antichristian Clergy and carnal Priests are the Sorcerers who have been so numerous that they have bewitched and deceived all Nations These are the Merchants who have made the Inhabitants of the earth drunk with the wine of their fornications and with whom the kings of the earth have beene and are so friendly as to commit fornication these are they who by their Jure Divino as they will have it have opposed and exalted themselves above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that they as God sit in the Temple of God shewing themselves that they are God and Lord it over Gods heritage and the consciences of his people These are the men who for their judaical hire where not sacrificed unto their idol snatched by force of the secular power have through their humane learning Academical degrees School Divinity Sacrednesse of their orders and Ecclesiastical ordination led thousands of souls hoodwinkt to destruction Such Schoole Graduates usually prove Theologi gloriae and not Theologi Crucis Divines of glory and not of the crosse and in a word may easily be perceived to be the Rulers of the darknesseâ— of this world even that part of Antichrist which he hath left lurking in this generation to oppose Christ in Spirit take heed therefore that you neither drink nor sippe of the Clergies cup lest having drunk thereof ye through the strength of their inchantments fall asleepe and be rendred unable to follow Christ further The Lord is come out of his place to rebuke the boisterous winds to breake the Cedars to darken the Sunne and Moone to shame and confound all humane Policie and power to staine the pride of all glory and to bring to contempt all that be glorious and the honourable of the earth and to take vengeance and do execution upon Babylon in order whereunto he hath stained the Lordly power and pride of those false Prophets the Prelates destroyed their Courts Canons and other abominations this design of his he is still carrying on though he may now seem to be going backwards the Sunne of Righteousnesse is never retrograde there shall not a stone be left upon a stone which shall not be thrown down shee must be wholly desolate And as before the Lord made use of the higher powers for effecting of what was then done so he wil for the residue in the fulnesse of time command his sanctified ones cal his mighty ones even them that rejocye in his Highnesse to fulfil his pleasure upon the great whore therefore you that have the Spirit of Christ within you give the Lord no rest till the Mountaine of his house be according to his own promises set up above the mountains and exalted above the hills till the new and spiritual Jerusalem that comes down from God out of heaven even his true spiritual Church that through faith hope and love lives out of this world and the element thereof in the kingdome of his Dear Sonne be made an eternall Excellencie and the joy of generations and until those who have afflicted it and dominiered over it be made to come humbly bending to it and lick the dust of its feete as the Lord hath promised Then shall the light and teaching of the Spirit in Scriptures which have beene forgotten and stood like a Sparrow upon the house tops desolate and forsaken become the only teaching Then shall the Lords inheritance that lie as dead and dry bones now in the vally live their nerves and bones being by the Lord knit together the spirit shall enter into them and set them upon their feete and they shal be called the valley of vision Then shall all low and carnall apprehensions of God which caused doubts and feares be done away there shall bee no night there nor clouds to hinder the intercourses of Love between God and the soule his servants shall serve him You that are spirituall know that it is also the present Designe of God to pull downe the old heavens wherein the men of the world would ascend up unto God even that old building which men for diverse hundreds of yeares have been in seting up is that hay and stubble which God by the brightnesse of his coming in Spirit is burning up Oh therefore earnestly beg of him that we may shortly see Satan troden under our feet and the Beast with the false Prophet that wrought miracles before him cast alive in the midst of their deceitfull workings into that Lake which burnes with Brimstone for evermore And that we may hear that shout of Triumph in the Spirituall Church Babylon is falne is falne and is now become an habitation of Devills and uncleane Spirits which before was the habitation of hypocrites and false Christians yet painted over with the most specious and glorious pretensions and shews of Religion and holinesse that the deceivablenesse of unrighteousness could trick up the Strumpet withall and that whatsoever hath beene captived into Babylon may be brought back and set upon Mount Sion That the redeemed of the Lord may return and being filled with the Spirit and restored to their primitive state may shine in the perfection of beauty and holinesse Then shall all Saints sing in the unity of the Spirit the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lambe Great and marvellous are thy works Lord God almighty just and true
this quickning Spirit of Christ the two edged sword of the word preached wil prove but as Scanderbegs sword which without Scanderbegs arm was able to doe little or nothing It is through grace that men believe yet men are to use the means for in the preaching of the word God hath covenanted that his Spirit go along with and add power to the word spoken make it effectual to the enabling of the creature to obey he said unto me Son of man stand upon thy feet and the Spirit entered into me when he had spoken unto me and set me upon my feet And the dead shal hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live otherwiâ—e were it in vaine to speak unto dead men to believe and all men are by nature spiritually dead only they believe whose hearts God opens None can believe but they unto whom it is given When the soule is come to believe that Christ was made sinne for it its doubts are vanquished and the soul sweetly quieted and setled As soone as Jesus Christ by his Spirit hath convinced the soule that he is made sin for it and that it is made the Righteousnesse of God in him then do all its doubts fears and objections vanish and Christ is believed in and lived upon with thankfulnesse and joy yea such a soule by its eye of faith sees it farre better that Christ was made sin for it then if it had never sinned yea as much better as a spiritual body is better then a natural as much better as the image of the heavenly is better then the image of the earthly body yea as much better as strength is better then weaknesse and as heaven is better then earth It is faith in Christ that rids the soul of all its distempers doubts fears and discouragements we may not separate the Spirit from faith for faith is the fruit and effect of the Spirit and wee cannot rationally expect the effect without its cause And it is the want of faith that causes troubles in the soul saith Christ ye believe in God believe also in me and let not your hearts be troubled believing in Christ sweetly quiets and settles a troubled soule and those that know God wil trust him with their bodies and souls and that upon his word all that know thy name wil trust in thee yea they wil cleave unto God in his promise even then when they are in their greatest fears and most sensible of their owne vilenesse and that not without sufficient warâ—ant Trust in him at all times God is a refuge for us Selah if at all times then at the worst of times yea even then believe and hear nothing against thy believing of God in his promise Abraham the faithfull believed against hope oh believe God intends thy good Christ came to seeke and to save the lost such as are lost in their sight and sense of their owne vilenesse insufficiency and misery A Collection of divers things from whâ—nâ—e it is that many weake Believers are incompassed with so many doubts feares and discouragements together with sundry especiall meanes which they are to make use of and wherein the Lord Jesus usually quiâ—ts and 〈◊〉 a disquieted soule in the assurance of his Love Negatively the doubts feares and discouragements of weake Believers proceed not from God for his voice is peace and comfort to his people I know the thoughts that I think towards you saith the Lord thoughts of peace and not of evill Comfort yee my people saith the Lord speake yee comfortably to Jerusalem cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished that her iniquity is pardoned You see they come not from God Nor come they from Christ he neither troubles nor discourages any it was promised concerning him that hee should speake peace Thy King cometh he shall speak peace unto the Heathen this is his worke and he doth it therefore he doth not trouble nor discourage any He is the horne of Salvation that God hath raised up for us to guide our feete in the way of peace He opens the blinde eyes He brings out the prisoners from the prison and them that sit in darknesse out of the prison-house He is that light that is sprung up unto those that sit in darknesse and in the Region and shadow of death he bindes up the broken hearted he proclaimes peace and liberty he comforts all that mourne He gives beautie for ashes the oyle of joy for mourning and the garments of Praise for the spirit of heavinesse he was given to heale the broken hearted to preach deliverance to the Captives and recovering of sight to the blinde to set at liberty poore bruised prisoners that have been taken Captive by the Devil and the maine end of his coming is to abolish death and to bring life and Immortality to light through the Gospel this is his worke and he doth it he is gracious and pitifull hee will not quench the smoaking flax nor breake the bruised reed his voice is full of love and tendernesse his words are sweet words as Let not your hearts be troubled feare not it is your fathers pleasure to give you a Kingdome Cast your care upon me I will care for you Christs voyce unto his poore people is Open to mee my sister my Love my Dove my undefiled his name is King of Salem that is King of peace It is palpably apparent that our feares and discouragements come not from Christ Nor come they from the holy Spirit of God for he is the great and most sweet Comforter he causes no discouragements but removes them all by revealing and applying unto the soule the love of God and carries the soule by faith from all discouragements unto God who is love and peace where the soule is to rest and be filled with sweet peace This is the worke of the Spirit and hence it is that he is called the Comforter he never caused the least feare or discouragement in the soule of any The consideration that our feares doubts and discouragements come not from God nor from Christ nor from the holy Spirit is sweet for then what need wee regard them yea we may slight them Affirmatively the doubts feares and discouragements of weake believers doe proceed viz. 1. From the Devill who is a malicious adversary to the Saints hee either tempts us to sinne and that will cause us to doubt or else hee tempts us to doubt and that will cause us to sinne and thus he raises doubts and feares to hinder their comfort and peace in believing he also tempts them and takes the word out of their hearts least they should believe From whence these particulars ensue 2. From our owne hearts Take heed brethren lest there be in any of you an evil
make a good construction of all his dispensations towards thee and know that his actings in us or upon us are the accomplishing of his wil for his owne glory and the good of his that which I think worst for mee may be best for mee How ever it be yet God is good and good to mee Thou oh Lord art still the same 18 Means Frequent those whom God hath settled in the assurance of his love these are able to direct and informe thee in the knowledge of the grace of God revealed in them wherein is peace and joy unspeakable and ful of glory many heare and confer with such as are ignorant of the grace of God and finde successe accordingly 19. Means When our spirits are never so much dejected and sadned we should with Isaiah wind up our affections and stirre up our selves to take hold on God and remember that Christ is our resting place whose spirit whispers in and unto us as it did unto David return unto thy rest oh my soule c. If thou hast sinned thou hast done very foolishly it being done it cannot be undone what shal the soul do but remember that sweet and gracious promise their sins and iniquities I will remember no more and consider that there is not any sin a believer can commit that should cause him to cast away his confidence or so much as question the love of God unto him for any thing he hath done or can befal him All that know the name of the Lord wil trust in him and cleave unto him for strength yea to be their strength against sinne for the time to come it is but a foolish conceit that brings a poore child of God to cast away his confidence and renders him culpable of the reprehension of our Saviour oh fools and slow of heart to believe c. A poore believer is commanded to come boldly to the throne of his Fathers grace he may not in any wise admit of such a disquietnesse in his sorrowing for sin as shall discorage and hinder him in obeying another command of God Rejoice evermore 20. Means Know and remember the happinesse of a believer in Christ though never so weake he is cleane from all sin by the blood of Christ they are removed from him so that he is accepted of God in Christ as perfect righteous and comely as Christ is saith Christ who is on with his Father unto a poore believer Thou art all faire my love there is no spot in thee goe the â—ore in much assurance and confidence unto the throne of his grace who having given thee his Son cannot but with him freely give thee all things that he in his wisdome and love sees fit for thee whether for soule body or both Having therefore Brethren boldnesse to enter into the holâ—â—st by the blood of Christ by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the vaile that is to say his flesh And seeeng that we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sinne Let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of grace that we may obtaine mercy and find grace to helpe in time of neede and let us draw neere with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering for he is faithful that promised Wheâ— shal lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is God that justifieth Meditate on these precious truths until then sweet influence through the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead have warmed and enlivened thy soule 21. Means Lastly know and remember that though these means tending so much to the soules settlement in and assurance of the love of God are to be used yet means alone are 〈◊〉 sufficient to quiet and settle a troâ—â—lâ—d soule it is the work of Christ spirit to answer all doubts and remove all discouragements God creates the fruit of the lips peace peace to him that is afarre off and to him that is 〈◊〉 saith the Lord and I will heale him In the use of meanes we are to looke unto and wait upon him who wil in his owne time which is best free all his from all their discouragements doubts and fears and satisfie their souls with his love which is better then wine These things I write unto you that your faith and hope may be in God A Collection of many the fears doubts and discouragements that a poore weake believer either in or about conversion or desertion takes up against himselfe together with their several remedies resolutions and answers Weake believers are like melancholy people who think things farre otherwise then they truly are rightly smoaking flax where there is more smoak then light more ignorance then true discerning and thereby they expose themselves to manifold fears and discouragements when there is not the least cause as for example Mary was troubled and afraid all the matter was the Angel saluted her and told her that she had found favour in the sight of God the shepherds were afraid even then when the Angel brought them tidings of great joy Peter was afraid when he had drawn up much fish by which their discouragements they highly dishonoured God hindered their own peace The feares of weake believers are usually of these kindes Viz. 1. They cannot be perswaded their sinnes are pardoned indeed they would and they would not believe it they cannot from the spirit that is in them but close with Christ and claspe about him for salvation yet then they are not sure they have him they may be deceived they thinke in that in a word They are and they are not perswaded their sinnes are pardoned The Remedy to this feare We are commanded to believe forgivenesse of sinnes in Jesus Christ throughly and not in part Through his name whosoever believes in him shall receive remission of sinnes 2. If faith carrie them on to believe a little more or better of their condition yet the pride of some sinnes will not down with them some of their sinnes which they have made their darlings more then others and cherished themselves in oh these they thinke are either too great or too often committed to be all forgiven and at once the remainders of these sins are like dregs in the bottome and their consciences cannot be satisfied that God hath fully pardoned them Briefly They are perswaded some sinnes are pardoned but not some others which they have most sinned in The Remedy There is indeed a large disproportion between sinnes in regard of their causes effects and adjuncts yet the robe of Christs Righteousnesse is so large that it covers the greatest
sinne as easily as the least And we are to consider that one sinne cannot be forgiven but all are forgiven Jesus Christ hath done away all sinnes For this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sinnes for ever sate down on the right hand of God 3. They looke not upon God in the pure simplicity of his word and promise but suspect and are jealous that God hath some reckoning still behind because they see themselves sinful and know that God is of purer eyes then to behold iniquity and they cannot believe that God can bear with all those corruptions and transgressions in them Briefly they fear still God doth not intend them such grace as he proffers and speaks of in his word and suspect the Gospel The Remedie We are to believe God in the plainnesse and simplicity he speaks in in Gospel promises the word of his grace even unto our soules as if he spake out unto us by name from heaven he that believeth not God hath made him a liar because he beleeveth not the Record that God gave of his Sonne 4. They think though God may be reconciled unto them and love them at sometimes for they poore souls only reckon the seasons of the Spirits comfortings and breathing for the times of forgivenesse yet God may be provoked againe and angry again for new sins and failings and then they are as much troubled how to come at any peace againe as they were before and then it must be only another sun-shine of the like comfort must warme them into peace and believing In a word they think if God do pardon them yet they may provoke him againe soon after The Remedie We must know that God is not as man that he should be angry and pleased as we carry our selves I wil be merciful to their unrighteousnesse and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more I wil be to them a God and they shall be to me a people There is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus c. The apprehension indeed of pardon and salvation is variable but yet the pardon and salvation it self is immutable and as the Gospel needs to be given but once so a mans sins need but once to be forgiven once is enough because if once then for ever 5. They cannot perswade themselves how they can sin as they doe daily but that they are countable for all the breaches and set up new scores of sin in their consciences and keepe reckoning for God and disquiet themselves in vaine in a word they suppose they cannot sin as they doe and not be accountable and they cannot but be sinners in Gods sight as well as their owne The Remedie We must remember our sins are no more ours but Christs and his righteousnesse is ours God reckons and accounts us as one now so though we sin yet every sin was accounted for in him And now there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is God that justifieth 6. They think every affliction or trouble that befalls them is a punishment for some sin they have committed and they looke on them as messengers of wrath from God sent upon them in judgment as if God were satisfying himselfe upon them and pouring forth some wrath upon their heads to satisfie his justice against such sins In a word they think afflictions are sent upon them for their sins and they cannot look upon God in them but as angry and so helpe the afflictions to afflict themselves The Remedie We are to consider that although afflictions come in with sinne and for sin and are the wages of sin yet to the righteous and believers they are not judgements for every thing of justice against sin was spent upon Christ so as to believers they are only trials and temptations My brethren count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations They are chastnings of love to prevent and imbitter sin unto us As many as I love I rebuke and chasten c. The rod of afflictions is a teaching rod David found it good for his soule that he had been afflicted and the fruit of affliction to believers is the taking away of sinne And the Spirit tells us expresly If ye endure chastening God dealeth with you as with sons for what sonne is hee whom the father chasteneth not But if yee be without chastisement whereof all are partakers then are ye bastards and not sonnes Afflictions are in a word a diverse way or dispensation of love and grace unto the poore soule love working by that which is evil in it selfe We know that all things do work together for good unto them that love God 7. They mistake the Gospel in the doctrine of it and every Scripture that threatens for sinne they apply unto themselves because they have committed that sin In a word They interpret every curse in the law and new Testament for sin their own if it be against their sinne The Remedie We are to consider that though the Scriptures do often set forth the righteousnesse of God against sinne and his justice against iniquity yet the justice of God being satisfied by him who made his soule an offering for thy sins Justice it selfe hath no more power against thee for thy sins then the pursuer hath to doe with the murderer in the City of refuge For sin shall not have dominion over you ye are not under the law but under grace The Discouragements of poore weake believers herein mentioned are as followeth I feare I am but an hypocrite notwithstanding all the faire shewes I have made for the Lord his waies and people It is contrary to the nature of an hypocrite to feare that he is such an one and it is a Character of a sincere heart to see and seeing to bemoane its owne deceitfulnesse to desire sincerity and to imbrace and most highly to prize that word of thâ— Lord that is most searching in its owne soule to thirst after that word that is most powerful and keene and pierceth even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit and of the joynts and marrow and to examine it selfe it is the prayer of a David-like spirit Examine me O Lord and prove me trie my reines and mine heart It is as dangerous for a soul to skin up its wounds before they are searched as to presse it selfe downe with discouragements and helpe the affliction to afflict it self Take it rather for granted that thou art an hypocrite and if so what is that but a sinner though of a deeper die then an ordinary sinner is We reade that Ephraim compassed the Lord about with lies and the house of Israel with deceits c. and that he was a cake not
so adamantinely hard that I can be affected neither with the chastisements nor mercies of the Lord. There is indeed much hardness of heart in the deare children of God their hearts have been as hard as a rock adamant or flint they and they only feel it complaine of it and mourn under it and this is tendernes or the effect of an heart of flesh It is the frame of a new heart and the temper of an experienced gracious spirit to lament from the sense of its own hardnesse of heart O Lord why hast thou made us to erre from thy waies and hardned our hearts from thy feare Doubtlesse thou art our father c. Their hearts were hardned from Gods feare and yet they were the children of God Poore soule I would be acquainted how thou camest to know thou hast an hard heart who told thee so art thou certaine thou art not mistaken if thou replyest that thou seest or feelest it I reply if it be so then thou art happy for thou haâ—â— the inbeing of the Spirit of Christ it is none other then the Spirit of the Lord Jesus that discovers to a man his own darknesse and convinceth him of his own deadnesse and hardnesse of heart yea none but this Spirit lusteth against the flesh and thou livest to God truly though not so holily and sensibly as thou mightest and oughtest for how should a senselesse stone feele its own hardnesse or he that is soundly a sleep perceive himself to sleepe or the dead man feele himselfe to be so Sense or feeling is an evident demonstration not only of life but of life in action Consider thy selfe as thou art in Christ in union with him what is his is thine Christs fruitfulnesse is thine in him is thy fruit found and if hee hath not as yet poured forth plentifully of the Spirit of grace and Supplication upon thee thou hast his promise for it hee hath offered up strong cries and teares unto the father for thee thou daily committest sinne from a body of death and corruption thou carriest with thee let thy glory and reioycing be that thy sinnes are forgiven and shall be remembred no more and rest satisfied in point of salvation in what Christ hath done Thy best works cannot save thee nor thy worst destroy thee Thanks be to God who hath given us victory by Jesus Christ Fetch thy comfort from him and not from what thou findest or possibly maiest find or feele in thy selfe We are not to judge of our eterâ—all condition and of Gods love to us by the hardnes or softnes of our hearts or by what workes of righteousnesse wee see and feele in our selves but to live by faith in the sonne of God who hath promised that hee will take away the stony heart out of thy flesh and give thee an heart of flesh and that hee wil turne the flint into a fountaine of waters Because I feele not my selfe sanctified I â—eare I am not justified Believers must not say they have no sanctification because they see and feele none David cried out in the bitternes of his soule that his sin was ever before him and then his sanctification was out of his sight and that God had forgotten to bee gracious but afterwards he said of it This is my infirmity You know in an house when it is darke there may bee all things that were there when it was light but you see them not till the candle be brought in The womans grote in the parable was in the house but shee found it not till she had lighted her candle therefore say with David Light my candle Oh Lord and the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord. Sanctification or the fruits and effects of the spirit in a believer do indeed comfort our faith in their kind and degree they are given to bee a light in some measure to our own consciences and to others Let your light so shine before men And glorifie God in your bodies and spirits Shew me thy faith by thy works they are the bracelets of the Spouse they are the beames of Christ the sun of righteousnesse but they are not Christ now clouds may hinder the beames from inlightning a roome but the Sun is still where it was the tree you know is there where it was when the Apples or fruit thereof may be blowne down by the winde of Temptation spoken of in the Parable yet then such promises as these are laid in for such a season Who is among you that fears the Lord that obeys the voice of his servant that walks in darknesse and sees no light let him trust in the Name of the Lord and stay upon his God And the vision is for an appointed time but at the end it shall speake and not lie though it tarry wait for it wait for it because it wil surely come and not tarry But the just shall live by faith Consider seriously how can any good assurance arise from the change that is in any child of God in this life or his sanctification it being not such in any particular act or worke wherin is no spot of sinne is it not a mixture of flesh and Spirit why then feelest thou after it as thou dost Since the best and most through sanctification in any is not pure enough for the eyes of the Lord why then make you it any bottom for assurance Observe that all the while you or any others have so done you and they like Noahs Dove can find no resting place the soales of your feete for the Spirit of Christ tells us when we have done all we can we are but unprofitable servants and that all our righteousnesse is but as menstruous cloaths And while we gaze upon the work of sanctification in us we find stil a rottennesse in every part of it call all into question and find fault with our repentance mortification new obedience c. therefore let us be sure still to take Christ in here who is a believers sanctification as wel as his righteousnesse In order to the removing of this discouragement consider a few particulars 1. If you suppose that God takes in any part of your faith repentance new-obedience or sanctification as a ground upon which he justifies or forgives you you are absolutely against the word for if it be of works it is no more of grace otherwise work is no more worke 2. It must then be only the evidence of your being justified that you seeke for in your sanctification These two things thus premised I proceed 1. We must allow any believer to take in any thing of his sanctification to help his assurance which the word allowes of as the Spirit and the fruits thereof that is to say repentance mortification of sin new obedience c. but then it
manifests himselfe to others of our Brethren and fellow Members he rises in their Hemispheare And what though thy sinnes have eclipsed the love of thy God unto thy soule The Lord onely bids thee to acknowledge thine iniquity that thou hast transgressed against the Lord c. What a poore recompence is this Turne oh backsliding children saith the Lord for I am married unto you c. Poore soule the love of God remaines still as sure and as great as ever and in his due time shall shine forth againe upon thy soul the thick clouds will blow over and the soule reviving light of his love will arise upon thee He will take away all iniquity and receive us graciously I thought I had true faith but since I fell into an hainous transgression I am perswaded that if I had beene the Lords he would not have left me to sin as I did This is a deplorable case indeed and the fruit of unbelief and of the want of watchfulnesse yet consider the Lord hath suffered such or as great if not greater spots to overtake his own dear children David sinned in adultery and murder Solomon sinned greatly after hee had obtained mercy and Peter denyeth Christ with an oath these examples are recorded to hold forth the glory of the riches of Gods free grace that men may be acquainted with the mirrour of his grace long sufferance and forbearance that so great sinners might not despaire and faint under their sinnes 2. To despair of the mercy of God because our sins are great were to limit God in his mercy which is to add sin unto sin and a greater sin then the former The Lord Jesus takes much pains and le ts out merciful power for the raising of sin-weakened souls and for the gathering of wandring Lambs Poor soul know this that the greatest sin a believer can commit ought not to make him mourn without hope for no sin can put him in the state of condemnation or bring him under the curse While we live here below God healeth not our sinfull nature wholly nor takes it quite away the flesh lusteth God ever looks upon his as they are in Christ and not simply as they are in themselves saith Paul I my selfe keepe the Law of God but with my flesh the Law of sin flesh and sin do the evil Consider Nehem. 9. 16 17. The Spirit also tells us in another place that he knowes our frame and remembers that we are but dust God hath in much wisdome and love left sinne in his to humble them and to exercise the fruits of the Spirit in them and that we might long to be where we shall not sinne also that we might the more dearly love Christ in that it is pardoned and depend upon him to subdue it and that we might not scorne nor insult over any poore sinâ— weakned ones but restore them with the spirit of meeknesse and that we may admire the more that rich grace of the Lord Jesus whereby notwithstanding all our provocations we have accesse unto the Father by him The Lords people are indeed taught by his spirit not to sinne that grace may abound but to love and to love with the more vehemency of affection the God of their incomprehensible mercy and to use all means against sinne and not to be over-pressed and sunk in despaire under it They also know that they are the more happy in that they were sinners else how could they be capable of union with God of mercy and heaven If there were not evil it would not be known what is good Justice and mercy had not beene known the wisdom of God could not have been known in drawing good out of evil or his love in sending the dearly beloved out of his bosom to die for us man had not come unto that happness in Christ which the Saints have and shal enjoy 3. God is never an enemy to his though they greatly sinne against him Wee are not beloved for our owne sakes nor for any thing in our selves but in Christ Who hath made us acceptable in the beloved Therefore nothing wee doe can cause God to love us more or lesse his love is as himselfe ever the same therfore a belivers hope joy and confidence is to bee ever the same in Christ Hence it is that such are alwayes to reioyce Reioyce alwayes Reioyce evermore Againe I say rejoyce Let them exceedingly rejoyce The joy of the Lord is our strength Oh there is enough in the Lord to satisfieâ— thee at all times he is an unchangeable object of true joy in him is all our hope and happinesse therefore let not thy fall cause thee to question the love of God unto thee thy salvation depends not upon thy repentance and holinesse See Rom. 9. 15 16. Isa 43 24 25. Ezek. 16. from 1. to ver 9. See also and mind what the Apostle saith in this case My little children these things write I unto you that you sinne not And if any man sinne we have an advocate with the Father Christ Jesus the righteous and he is a propitiation for our sins c. These things are written unto us indeed that we sinne not But as for such as turne the grace of God into wantonnesse whom the mercies of God encourage in their sinful practise these are led by the spirit of the divell he is their father and his works they doe these are not at present in any wise to be numbred with those who through temptations and weaknesse are overtaken with the sin they hate if fallen be not out of hope If the Lords children have fallen into sinne they are to rise by faith Shal a man fall and not arise Who is a God like unto thee that pardonest the transgression of the remnant of thy people God subdues the corruption that is in his not all at once but by degrees and thereupon saith I will be merciful to their unrighteousnesse and their sins and iniquities I wil remember no more God hath nothing in charge against those who are in Christ and therefore commands us to goe boldly to the throne of grace in full assurance of faith If I were fitted with Qualifications as humblenesse brokennesse of heart c. and tooke delight in hearing and praying as others I could then entertaine hope that God hath thoughts of love and mercy towards me but it is not so with me Such an objection in some may be the product of the sweet operation of the Spirit of grace which hath shewed them some amiable and desirable thing in the precious promises and wayes of God so as they panâ— after them But more usually this is a whining because the worke of preparation is more sensible then the worke of
now decayed Poore heart I would have thee consider these five things viz. 1. The ground of our faith is God in his word and not our sight and feeling That is sensual we live not by sight but by faith in the Son of God 2. Consider that as long as thou maintainest fears jealousies of Gods love unto thee it is no wonder if thy condition be no better then it is Call to mind the daies of old And remember that with God is no variablenesse nor shadow of turning whom he loves he loves for ever his love is an everlasting love And remember that a poore believers consolation depends not so much upon his knowing Christ as upon this that we are knowne of him and held fast by him who hath taken the charge of us 3. A child of God may decay in parts sight feeling and exercise of faith these are sometimes more and sometimes lesse as God sees best that we might rest and relie upon Christ alone The graces accompanying salvation no saint shal ever lose but a present sensible and continuall exercise of any grace God hath not promised the exercise of grace in the Saints ebbs and flowes the Lord often withdrawes the exercise of one grace that so another may shine forth with the greater lustre and that we may in faith and humility depend up on him who is the rock of our strength and our portion for ever 4. Consider That it is a principal part of the new covenant of Gods grace that he wil write his law in our hearts and that we shall not depart from him And the Lord also saith The mountains shal depart and the hils be removed but my loving kindnesse shall not depart from thee neither shall the Covenant of my peace he removed And in the Prophesie of Jeremiah he saith further If thou canst breake my Covenant of the day and my Covenant of the night that there shall not be day and night in their season then may also my covenant be broken 5. Consider that wee ought to believe that which wee neither see nor â—eel wee are to believe under hope against hope Faith is the evidence of things not seene To live by faith is to walk after the spirit and to live by sight sense and feeling is to live after the flesh Were it not a groundless thing in nature to feare that there is no sinne in the firmament because that at present its face is masked with a cloud and wee feele not the warming and inlivening influence of its beames I feare that the opposition in mee against sinne is not between Christ and Satan or the spirit and the flesh but betweene my corrupt will and my inlightened conscience It is granted that every opposition or striving in men is not from the antipathy between Christ and Satan or the flesh and spirit which reciprocally lust against each other yet the difference between the antipathy of the flesh and spirit and of the corrupt will and enlightened conscience is very discernable 1. The naturall conscience though inlightened acts only in a naturall way at the most it is but morall as not to lie steale sweare c. 2. It stirs not unless forced and then unto that only whereunto it is forced as a Justice of the peace having issued forth his warrant to a drunken constable to search for drunkards this constable dare do no other then search for them though his heart bee with them 3. Conscience inlightened strikes only at the branches but not at the root of sinne 4. It sets one faculty against another as the will and affections against the understanding First But the spirit of Christ causes an opposition in the same faculty as in the will c. 2. The spiritâ— of Christ makes a free full constant and impartial resistance against all sinne 3. It discovers to the soule her secret corruptions in their colours this spirit overpowereth the soule causing it to hate sinne and leave it 4. This spirit causeth the soule to bee so much the more glad by how much sinne is the more discovered 5. It teaches the soul to oppose all sin even the appearance of evil equally proportionably and orderly 6. This Spirit teaches the soul not to turn the grace of God into incouragement to sin I cannot pray nor do any thing that is good therefore God hath not done my soule good and I have many suggestions that I have no worke of grace wrought in mee which much weakens my confidence 1. Poore soul 〈◊〉 thy grace is weak and thy weaknesse proceeds from infidelity which deadens the heart and hinders thy living upon the strength of Christ 2. It is thus with thee that thou mayest see thy necessity of Christs strength go to and waite upon him by faith for it and live upon him who hath promised to be a ful supply unto his 3. If God hath given thee a desire to obey him say not that it is nothing God saith it is something he that gives this accepts it for if there be a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not and he wil grant thy desire in his time he wil 〈◊〉 the desires of them that feare him he also will heare their cry and wil save them Christ wil not quench the smoaking flax though we see no fire yet we know there is some by the smoake it is a Character of a servant of the Lord to desire to feare his name spiritual or holy desires cannot be in a soule that hath no grace desires after grace and of spiritual things is an act of spiritual life an act is from a faculty and a faculty is a concomitant of life a man that is dead in trespasses and sins cannot while dead have a spiritual desire spiritual desires are the productions of faith and love and many times a wil to obey is all that a spiritual believer can find To will is present with mee but how to performe that which is good I find not for the good I would I do not but the evil I would not that do I the strongest saint is but weak Paul was an eminent Saint yet consider what he saith of himselfe Rom. 7. from 14. to 25. Rom. 8. from 37. to 39. he had no power to doe what he would yet he lived by faith in the Son of God 4. We should doe all we can to obey God yet we must know that our all wil be infinitely too little to justifie us in the sight of God for by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of our selves c. not of works lest any man should boast Then as to the second branch viz. That God hath not done thy soule good Certainly God hath begun his work in thee if he hath convinced thee of sin and
through the Gospel he ever remaines beautifull and comely to an eye of faith whereby he sees himselfe in the righteousnesse of Christ made perfectly and everlastingly righteous yea presented in the body of Christs flesh through death holy unblameable and unreproveable in the sight of God 4. From ignorance of their glorious Gospel freedome Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law c. that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith Christ is the end of the Law for righteousnesse to every one that believeth Now wee know that what things soever the Law saith it saith to them who are under the Law But no true Believer is under the Law but they are all under grace In the first Adam we had to doe with God onely in a way of subjection and righteousnesse but now in our second Adam in a way of Sonship or adoption free grace and love For what the Law could not doe in that it was weake through the flesh God sending his own sonne in the likenesse of sinfull flesh and for sinne condemned sinne in the flesh That the righteousnesse of the Law might bee fulfilled in us who walke not after the flesh but after the Spirit The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made us free from the Law of sin and death We are delivered from the Law that we should serve in newnesse of Spirit and not in the oldnesse of the Letter Christ hath blotted out the hand-writing of Ordinances that was against us and taken it out of the way nayling it to his Crosse He hath led Captivity captive That he might deliver the creature from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the Sonnes of God the Spirit saith that no Curse can come nigh our dwelling place The glorious beames of Christs grace and love now shine forth upon the soules of his poore children like the Sunne in the spring time which light carries a vertue causing the earth to spring and blossome as the garden of the Lord. Christ hath delivered us out of the hands of our enemies that we might serve in newnesse of Spirit without fear in holinesse and righteousnesse before him all the dayes of our life The Spirit of Christ doth indeed set a believer as free from hel the Law and bondage here on earth as if he were in heaven nor wants he any thing to make him thus free but to bring him to believe that he is so for Satan sinne sinful flesh and the law are all so neer and about him in this life that hee cannot so walke by sight or in the clear apprehension of it but the just live by faith and faith is the evidence of things not seene Two wayes for a believer to hold stable comfort hope Joy and confidence in God at all times 1. To live in Christ and not in our selves A believers condition is twofold yet as a believer he hath but one in Christ in himselfe yet he ought ever to consider himselfe in Christ by faith and not in himselfe In Christ he hath perfectly obeyed the whole law perfectly suffered and satisfied for all his sins to the justice of God and in Christ is perfectly just and righteous and thereupon it is said that our life is hid with Christ in God And we are raised up with Christ and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus even already but in himselfe there is a body of lust corruption and sinne and there is a law revealing sinne accusing and condemning so as if a believer live only by sense reason and experience of himselfe and as he lives to men he lives both under the power and feeling of sinne and the law but if he by the eie of faith lookes upon himselfe to be within the walls of that strong and impregnable City of refuge the Lord Jesus the law and divine Justice of God cannot pursue him for his sins if he live by faith in Christ and in the apprehension of his love believing in the life righteousnesse obedience satisfaction and glory of him whom the Spirit calls ours Christ is ours we are Christs and Christ is Gods he then lives out of the power of all condemnation and unrighteousnesse Christ being the end of the Law for righteousnesse c. And thus a believer is blessed only in a righteousnesse without not within and all his assurance confidence and comforts are to flow in unto him through a channel of faith and not of works believing himselfe happy for what another even Christ hath done for him not for what he hath done or can doe for himselfe for when wee are at the best we are but unprofitable servants and may not live in our selves nor by sight but by faith and when we are at the worst we are to live upon Christ by faith and derive all our comforts from God in in his everlasting and inviolable covenant of grace which is an inexhaustible fountaine of divine consolation for a poore believer to have recourse unto for the stability of soulâ—satisfying joy and comfort sparkling from the face of God upon him and indeed the glorious joy of a believer would be alwaies unspeakable did he alwaies apprehend his happinesse in and by Christ Jesus 2. To live by faith which consists in the souls communion with God in Christ and the soules enjoying of Christ in his promises both spiritual and temporal Faith supplies all wants it honours God and God honours those most that live by it By faith we live to God a life of joy in him our righteousnesse as if we had never sinned by faith wee live above sinne infirmities temptations desertions sense reason feares and doubts faith sweetens the sweetest mercie and the bitterest miseries it renders great afflictions as none it is the Bulwarke of the souls strength and comfort By faith wee obey God it makes the yoke of Christ easie and sweet it states the soul in the possession of heaven while the bodo remains on earth By saith wee view the glory of heaven and know our selves to be happy even then when to a carnal eye we seeme most miserable By faith we can chearfully part with and suffer deprivation of the sweetest outward comforts and enjoyments and welcome death knowing that we do but exchange the worst place and things for better Those that live by faith live upon God and are feasted in his banquetting house which is plentifully stored with all desirable dainties having this welcome Eate O friends and drinke abundantly It is oh believer thy portion duty and priviledge to refresh and exhilerate thy soule with his dainties and to enjoy Christ in them all that so thy joy may be full To live by faith in effectual calling
rids the soule of all its distempers doubts feares and discouragements we may not separate the Spirit from faith nor faith from the Spirit nor Christ from both 5. By faith in Christ thou shalt be kept in perfect peace it will sweetly and transcendently refresh the soule thou shalt keep him in perfect peace because he trusts in thee Being justified by faith we have peace with God by faith we apprehend Christ our Justification the fruit of which is joy and peace 6. By unbelief we adde sinne unto sinne in the highest nature if we believe not what God saith we accuse God of speaking falsely he that believeth not hath made God a lyer It is impossible for God to lye the strength of Israel cannot lye nor can it be any dishonour to God or danger to thy selfe to hope in his mercy and believe in him The eye of the Lord is upon them that hope in his mercy 7. As bad as thou canst be have been received unto mercy Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners This is a faithfull saying and worthy of all acceptation When thou layest in thy blood it was a time of love He justifies the ungodly While we were yet sinners Christ dyed for us have hope therefore feare not but believe the Lord will command his loving kindnesse in the day time and in the night his song shall be with thee hope thou in God 8. Unbeliefe streightens thy heart stops thy mouth and hinders thy thankfulnesse and praysing of God thou shalt be dumb because thou believest not 9. Unlesse we believe we can never glorifie God Abraham staggered not at the promise of God through unbeliefe but was strong in faith giving glory to God 10. Our naked cleaving to God in his free promise shall carry down all our distempers at once and drowne them in it as in a Sea the promises will answer all thy doubts and feares whatsoever and fill our soules with peace in believing 11. By our unbeliefe wee oppose riches of grace and love yea that love that could love enmity it selfe and reconcile those unto God that are enmity against him There is but looking up to Christ Jesus and salvation is in thy soule and believing with thy heart and thou art saved thou wert saved by Christ before but now in thy selfe Jesus Christ and forgivenesse of sins in his name and redemption through his blood is the first and only thing held forth in the Gospel to sinners the other mysterie of Righteousnesse is revealed to believers forgivenesse of sins is first taught that they may believe and the other glorious mysteries are taught that they may know what they believe they are first to see Gods love and afterwards his glory Jesus Christ crucified is the best story for sinners and Jesus Christ exalted for Saints and therefore it is that in all the Apostles Sermons the story of blood and redemtion was first preached and when they did believe that then they wrote Epistles and Revelations of greater things unto them so as they spake of Christ only to make them beleeve and wrote to them of him when they did beleeve Salvation is not made any puzzling work in the Gospel it is plainly easily and simply revealed Jesus Christ was crucified for sinners this is salvation and this work of salvation is past and finished sins are blotted out sinners are justified by him that rose for their justification now that which we must do to be saved is to believe in the Lord Jesus Jesus Christ and the promise is annexed thou shalt be saved All that is to be done in the work of salvation is to believe that there is such a worke and that Christ dyed for thee among all those other sinners he dyed for This is the commandment that ye believe on his Son Jesus Christ that is that ye be perswaded of such a thing that Christ was crucified for sins and for your sins and we are called on to believe because they only that can believe are justified by him all that believe are justified so that salvation is not a business of our working and doing it was done by Christ with the Father Sin Satan and hel were all triumphed over by Christ himself openly for us and all our worke is no worke of salvation but in salvation in the salvation we have by Christ We receive all not doing any thing that we may receive more but doing because we receive so much and because we are saved therefore we work not that we may be saved and yet we are to worke as much as if we were to be saved by what we doe because so much is done already for us and to our hands as if we were to receive it for what we did our selves this is short work believe and be saved and yet this is the only gospel work and way Christ tels ye in few words and his Apostles in as few As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wildernesse so must the Son of man be lifted up that whosoever believes on him should have eternal life Saith Saint Paul say not in thy heart who shall ascend into heaven that is to bring Christ from above or who shall descend into into the deepe that is to bring Christ from the dead but what saith it the word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart the word of faith which we preach if thou shalt confesse with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved The work is already done but then thou shalt see that it is done There are five grounds why salvation is so soone done 1. Because it was done before by Christ but not believed on before by thee til now 2. Because it is the Gospel way of dispensation to assure and passe over salvation in Christ to any that will believe it 3. There needs no more on our sides to work or warrant salvation to us but to be perswaded that Christ Jesus died for us because Christ hath suffered and God is satisfied now suffering and satisfaction is that great worke of salvation 4. Because they and they only are justified who can believe Righteousnesse is revealed from faith to faith all that believe are justified 5. That it may be by grace and not of works being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus How God begets faith in an unbeliever We are commanded to believe and faith is the gift of God and the Spirit of Christ without which we can do nothing enlightens our understandings and worketh faith in us and hereupon our believing is said to be the work of God and the Spirit having set up a divine light in our understandings we being before altogether darknesse bowes our hearts to believe and indeede without